Looking Back at a Proud Moment in Our History

As part of our 20th anniversary, we’ve been looking back through the Hot Tubs At Home archives at some of the products, people and milestones that have shaped our journey since 2006.

And this one definitely deserves its place.

Back in 2014, when Coast Spas formed a major part of the Hot Tubs At Home range, we returned from the Coast Spas International Dealer Meeting in Vancouver with an incredible collection of awards.

The brands and products we sell have evolved considerably since then, so the Coast Spas products mentioned in this story should be viewed as part of our history rather than our current range.

But the awards themselves represent something we’re still enormously proud of.

Outstanding Customer Service

Hot Tubs At Home received Coast Spas’ Outstanding Customer Service Award for 2014.

The award recognised us across the manufacturer’s European dealer network and was a particularly special achievement for a relatively small, independent family business from Towcester.

At the time, Jen said:

“Winning the Outstanding Customer Service Award for 2014 was a very proud moment, as only one award was issued for the whole of Europe.”

Customer service had been central to Hot Tubs At Home from the beginning, so recognition for exactly that meant a great deal to us.

And, truthfully, it still does.

Outstanding International Growth

We were also presented with the Outstanding Growth International 2014 Award.

Hot Tubs At Home had opened its doors in 2006 with just three hot tubs on display.

The timing could hardly have been more challenging.

The financial crisis followed shortly afterwards and, like businesses across the country, we had to navigate some extremely uncertain years.

We kept the business manageable, watched our costs, worked incredibly hard and continued building our reputation one customer at a time.

By the time these awards arrived, our showroom had grown from those original three hot tubs to around 18 display models, alongside a swim spa and other outdoor-living products.

Looking back now, that growth feels particularly significant.

Coast Spas Platinum Club

The same period also saw Hot Tubs At Home receive a Coast Spas Platinum Club Award for Performance of Excellence and Outstanding Achievement.

At the time, Coast Spas was an important part of our showroom and our business.

We had first introduced the Canadian manufacturer to our range during the early years of Hot Tubs At Home, and over the following years we built up a substantial Coast Spas display in Towcester.

Those products — and the customers who bought them from us — became an important chapter in the HTAH story.

A Very Different Hot Tubs At Home

Looking back at photographs from this period now is quite something.

The showroom looked different.

The brands were different.

The hot tubs themselves looked different.

Technology has moved on enormously and so has the wider wet-leisure industry.

At the time, alongside Coast Spas, our showroom included brands and products such as NorthWind, RotoSpa, Softub and the Coast Wellness swim spa range.

One of the products we were particularly excited about was the Wellness Infinity Swim Spa, with its distinctive infinity-edge design.

It was very new technology at the time and represented another expansion of what customers could see and experience at our Towcester showroom.

Today our ranges look very different, but that’s exactly what you would expect from a business that has spent two decades adapting, learning and moving forward.

From Three Hot Tubs to Twenty Years

There’s a quote from Jen in the original article that perhaps captures those early years better than anything we could write today:

“Everyone thought we were crazy — our friends and families included! But we journeyed on and decided it wouldn’t beat us.”

We couldn’t possibly have known then quite how much journeying there would actually be.

Businesses change.

Economies change.

Manufacturers and products change.

We’ve rebuilt our showroom, changed suppliers, expanded our services, welcomed new members to the team and worked our way through challenges we could never have predicted when we opened in 2006.

But some things haven’t changed.

We’re still independent.

We’re still in Towcester.

We’re still obsessed with looking after our customers.

And we’re still here.

Twenty Years On

Awards aren’t the reason you run a business.

Ultimately, an award sits on a shelf.

The relationships you build with customers, the reputation you earn and the business you create are what remain.

But every now and again, it’s rather lovely to look backwards and remember the moments when somebody else noticed what you were building too.

Our 2014 Coast Spas awards were one of those moments.

We’re proud that they’re part of the Hot Tubs At Home story.

And twenty years after we first opened our doors, we’re even prouder that the story is still being written.

Hot Tubs At Home Towcester, Northamptonshire Established 2006